RiverGame is a leading Chinese mobile game publisher with a growing global footprint. Their hit strategy title, Top War, has built a massive following thanks to its innovative gameplay, consistent updates, and cross-market appeal. To continue scaling in the competitive U.S. mobile market, RiverGame needed a sharper edge in their paid user acquisition, specifically, a way to improve long-term returns on Meta (Facebook) campaigns.
While Top War already performed well in the U.S., RiverGame wanted to push further:
Short-term optimization was holding back long-term performance
RiverGame’s Meta campaigns were optimized using Value Optimization (VO) based on early revenue events. While this strategy captured early payers, it often undervalues or overlooks users who convert later and deliver significant long-term revenue. Without a way to distinguish these users early on, Meta’s bidding system couldn’t effectively prioritize them.
VO vs. VO pLTV: A controlled experiment on Meta
To address this, RiverGame partnered with Churney to run an A/B test on iOS campaigns in the U.S. market.
Churney modeled predicted Day 60 revenue per user (pLTV) using early gameplay and payment signals. The test compared Meta’s standard VO strategy (based on real early revenue) against VO audiences powered by Churney’s predicted revenue, giving Meta a more complete picture of future user value, even within the first day.
Smarter optimization, stronger returns
By optimizing Meta bidding using Churney’s D60 pLTV, RiverGame achieved:
These improvements translated to significantly more efficient spend in one of RiverGame’s most important markets, without sacrificing volume or scale.
From test to full rollout
The success of the VO pLTV experiment convinced RiverGame to expand Churney’s model across other campaigns and markets. With stronger insight into future user value and tighter alignment with Meta’s optimization, RiverGame is now positioned to grow more efficiently and sustainably.
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